Process of removing acids from glycerides



WILHELM GLEITZ, DECEASED, LATE OF HAMBURG, GERMANY, BY GUSTAV KAIPMEYER, ADMINISTRATOR, 0F HAMBURG, GERMANY.

PROCESS OF REMOVING ACIDS FROM GLYCERDES.

No Drawing.

T 0 all/whom it may concern:

'Be it known that WILHELM GLEITZ, deceased, late citizen of the German Republic, and residin at Hamburg, Germany, represented by USTAV KAPMEYER, of Hamburg, administrator of WILHELM GLEI'r-zs estate, invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Process for Removing Acids from Glycerides, (for which I have obtained Letters Patent in Germany, No. 306361, filed August 25, 1915,) of which the following is a specification.

The usual processes employed for removing acids from glycerides have the disadvantage that the soaps which are obtained remove substantial quantities of neutral oil which adheres tenaciously to the soap and cannot be separated by centrifugalization, pressing or extraction, to be used for more valuable purposes, e. g. lubricants.

This invention has for its object to provide a new process of treating crude oils and fats containing a high percentage of fatty acids, such as could only beused for soap manufacture, to yield neutral oils and fats suitable for alimentary use. Such a process must be cheap, simple and reliable, so that the loss of neutral oil is reduced to a minimum by separating soaps which contain only 5 to 15% of neutral oil (and 95 to 85% of faltty acid) instead of 40 to 80% of neutral o1 According to my invention, I purify the crude oil as far as possible, and then dilute it with a solvent in suitable amount, whereupon I treat it with the calculated amount of alkaline substance to transform the free fatty acids into soaps whichonly contain a small quantity of neutral oil, so that the yield of purified neutral oil is increased. The solvent must be inert to alkali and a non-solvent for the soap at ordinary temperature.

The concentration of the fatty acid in the solution is reduced in proportion to the volume of solvent which is added, so that it is possible to deacidify oils with high content of fatty acid which could not be treated satisfactorily in other ways, e. g. without dilution by a solvent, in such manneras to obtain satisfactory yields of neutral oil. The solution of crude oil is considerably less vis- .Specifica.tidn of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 15, 1921.

as foodstuffs orv Patented Mar. 7, 1922. Serial No. 492,431.

g. at ordinary tempera- I ing point of the solvent employed and then again cooled to the initial temperature. The solution of neutral oil which is to be separated or filtered is separated from the solvent by warming and the soap, which if a concentrated lye has been used, is in the form of a solid mass, can be washed out with fresh solvent, if desired with application of heat. The soa may then be treated with water and a litt e fresh lye to hydrolyze any traces of neutral oil still present, when a satisfactory soap is obtained which can be turned into commercial soap in known manner so that decomposition of the byproduct soap by mineral acid is avoided and the liquors used for deacidification are not lost.

Such a soap has no smell of solvent nor has the recovered neutral oil'which if the treatment has been carefully performed contains no soap and is ready for reparation for alimentary purposes by deo orization.

The explanation of the small content of neutral oil in the by-product soap is that its single particles or crystals are combined in the form of a. sponge whose numerous com municating and almost microscopically small 4 canals are formed because of the presence of the unsaponifiable solvent and thus remain open; when the soapis exposed to pressure, the liquid is removed from these channels so that practically pure soap is left. Such a process requires an apparatus which is totally closed whose gaseous space is filled with carbon dioxide or attached to a central condenser in order to avoid loss of solvent.

The treatment for deacidification before removal of the solvent is also extremely important in extraction plant in the oil and fat industry, since in this case a special admixture of oil with solvent is not necessary and the deacidification process can be interpolated as an additional step in the known process.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in What manner the same is to be performed, I declare that What I claim is:

1. A process for separating fatty acids from neutral fats in glycerides, consisting in dissolving the latter in a solvent Which is non-solvent for soap and alkali, adding an alkali solution which forms soap With the aossoa free fatty acid, the soap being precipitated, whereas the neutral fat remains in solution, substantially as described.

, 2. A process as claimed in claim 1, in which the neutralized oil solution is raised to the boiling point of the solvent and again cooled after which the soap is separated from the solution of neutral oil, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GUSTAV KAPMEYER,

Administrator of Wilhelm Gleitz, de-

ceased. 

